HILADELPHIA - Saturday's double-overtime triumph over Xavier was one of the most impressive victories of the season for the University of Massachusetts. But it wasn't a momentum builder.

Three days after that gallant effort against the Atlantic 10's top team, UMass traveled to Philadelphia and suffered a 63-60 to a lowlier conference member, La Salle. Last night's loss guarantees the Minutemen (12-15, 8-7) a losing record for the first time since the 1988-89 campaign.

It is the first time La Salle (11-14, 7-8) has beaten UMass since 1971.

Before the game, the home fans booed and taunted UMass center Lari Ketner, who had verbally committed to La Salle while in high school in Philadelphia, only to opt for UMass after making an official visit. When Ketner drew his first foul in the game's first minute, the boos turned to cheers.

But Ketner got off to a strong start, scoring on consecutive fadeaway jumpers to give the Minutemen a 7-2 lead. La Salle scored 7 straight points to tie it, including a baseline trey by Victor Thomas over the hands of UMass forward Chris Kirkland.

Ketner's third fadeaway basket, along wtih two free throws by Monty Mack, gave the Minutemen a 13-9 edge. But the Explorers rallied, outscoring UMass, 9-4, to take their first lead at 18-17.

The Minutemen lapsed into the type of scoring drought that has plagued them all season, botching five consecutive possessions. But the defense clamped down as Ketner rejected K'Zell Wesson, Thomas, and Wesson again on consecutive possessions.

La Salle took a 20-17 lead when Wesson scored on a putback after being blocked by Ketner with 6:11 left. UMass ended its scoring drought on a bucket by Mike Babul with 5:58 left.

Ketner went to the bench with his second foul and the Minutemen struggled to score without him. La Salle, meanwhile, increased its lead to 25-20 on a trey by Thomas with 4:22 left.

For the remainder of the half, both teams struggled, missing outside jumpers and 2-foot bank shots. La Salle made it 27-20 on a putback by Wesson with 1:33 remaining. Backup center Kitwana Rhymer scored on a 3-point play with 1:03 left to pull UMass to 27-23, and the Minutemen got the ball back after a La Salle miss.

But guard Charlton Clarke turned it over with nine seconds left, and La Salle forward Rasual Butler sank a baseline jumper at the buzzer for a 29-23 halftime lead.

UMass fell behind, 45-37, with 13:02 to go but cut the deficit to 47-44 on a 3-point play by Babul. The Explorers went ahead, 50-44, on a trey by Donnie Carr with 8:40 to go. Then the Minutemen got two free throws by Clarke, a basket by Kirkland, and a baseline jumper by Mack to tie the game, 50-50, with 6:07 left.

A trey by Carr put La Salle ahead, 53-50. Kirkland hit a free throw, but the Explorers answered with consecutive buckets for a 57-51 lead. UMass cut it to 58-57, but Wesson tipped in a missed free throw with 31.1 seconds left to put the Explorers up by 3.

The Minutemen had the ball with 6.2 seconds left, but Mack missed a trey attempt at the buzzer.

t the time, it simply seemed like another dose of rotten luck for the La Salle Explorers and coach Speedy Morris. They thought they had a coveted player from Roman Catholic High School, 6-foot-10 Lari Ketner, but he had a change of heart and chose Massachusetts instead.

Last night, all that seemed so far in the past. K'Zell Wesson outplayed Ketner by a mile, and Donnie Carr suffocated Massachusetts' leading scorer with stingy defense as La Salle (11-14, 7-8) knocked off the Minutemen (12-15, 8-7), 63-60, in a spirited Atlantic Ten Conference game before a boisterous crowd of 3,794 at Tom Gola Arena.

"There was not one possession when K'Zell didn't really scoot up and down the court," Morris said.

Perhaps playing his final home game for La Salle, the brawny 6-7 Wesson scored 22 points, including a crucial tip-in of a missed free throw with 32 seconds remaining that made the score 60-57. The senior also had 10 rebounds, while Ketner shot 5 for 21 for 10 points to go with his 11 rebounds. At crunch time, Ketner let a simple bounce pass slip through his hands and out of bounds.

"I played a lot against Lari over the summer, and he's big and strong, but I just tried to take it to him," Wesson said. "This might have been my last home game, so I wanted to go out with a bang."

Wesson beat Ketner to the ball after La Salle's Julian Blanks missed the first half of a one-and-one. Rasual Butler, who scored 12, raised the lead to 62-57 with a pair of free throws, and Carr dropped in a free throw with 6.2 seconds to go after Charlton Clarke hit a three-pointer with 8.4 left. Monty Mack's desperation three-point attempt at the buzzer was well short of the rim, ending a frustrating night for UMass' top scorer.

Victor Thomas pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds.

In yet another outstanding defensive effort, Carr held Mack to one field goal. Mack entered the game averaging 18.2 points, but shot 1 for 13 to finish with a season-low six points. It was only the second time this season that Mack had not reached double figures.

"If Donnie's not first-team all-conference, then it's an injustice," Morris said after the Explorers finished their home schedule with a 9-2 record in the first full season at their expanded arena. "All year, he's done it with his defense, his passing, his assists-to-turnovers ratio."

Carr did not do it with his offense until the second half. Like Mack, he shot 0 for 7 in the first half before exploding for 14 during the final 20 minutes. Carr's third three-point basket gave the Explorers a 53-50 lead with 5 minutes, 19 seconds remaining, and finished off a flurry of 11 consecutive points by the 6-3 junior guard. La Salle never trailed in the second half after building a 29-23 halftime lead.

Carr, who earlier this season held Fordham star Bevon Robin and Xavier standout Lenny Brown to single figures, said he simply tried to stay with the constantly moving Mack. He credited his teammates with helping out.

"Monty Mack is a very good player, very unpredictable," Carr said.

Wesson, who had 10 first-half points, kick-started the Explorers toward a 45-37 lead with eight quick points to begin the second half. Carr got his first basket on a jumper from the top of the circle with 15 minutes remaining, then drained a three-pointer for the 45-37 lead.

The Minutemen climbed back, though, as Mack nailed his first and only basket to make it 50-50 with 6:18 remaining.

Wesson, the lone senior on the roster, was honored before the game. Yet he is holding out hope that the NCAA will grant him the year of eligibility he lost as a partial academic qualifier. Morris said the NCAA ruling should come within the next three weeks.

La Salle will end the regular season on Saturday at Dayton, then play the first round of the conference tournament Wednesday at the Spectrum against either Fordham or St. Joseph's. The Explorers are 10-3 in games played in the city this season, a fact noted by Morris.

"The A-10 tourney is in Philly, so as long as they don't move it, you never know," Morris said. "If this team can learn to win on the road, it could be a big-time team."

herever K'Zell Wesson went, there was Lari Ketner, a second too slow or a step too late.

Nothing changed with 33.9 seconds left on the Tom Gola Arena clock last night, either.

Julian Blanks, La Salle's point guard, missed the front end of a one-and-one with La Salle appearing primed to fritter away a one-point lead. But Wesson wouldn't have it. The abuse of Ketner, the Roman Catholic product, continued.

"The ball hit the rim and we kind of locked left arms as we went up," Wesson said. "But I was able to get inside and free my right arm to tip it. Fortunately, it went where I tipped it."

A frantic La Salle-like (never easy) 31.9 seconds later, Wesson's tip proved the springboard to the Explorers' exciting, 63-60 victory over a Massachusetts squad that fell to 1-10 on the road and 12-15 overall.

As UMass' desperate final possession was stifled by the Explorers, a sea of blue and gold poured from the student section behind the benches and engulfed anyone in the vicinity of midcourt, including the UMass and La Salle coaching staffs.

The 9:30 ESPN2 telecast spawned, for a change, a happening in the new home court at the Hayman Center, and if last night was Wesson's final Gola Arena appearance, he left behind a memorable, 31-minute performance. The 6-8 senior center scored 22 points, took 10 rebounds and had his way with anyone UMass coach Bruiser Flint threw in there.

"I came in just wanting to go out with a bang," Wesson said, after his 14th double-double effort of the season. "Hopefully, I'll get the fifth year back [in an appeal to the NCAA], but if not, I was proud to be part of this great tradition and go out with a win like this one.

"Maybe this will get us going for good now. We're capable of beating anyone the way we played tonight."

La Salle is capable of beating anyone when it plays 40 minutes of defense the way it did last night. Monty Mack, UMass' leading scorer, who entered the game averaging 18.7 points, headed to the bus figuring he'd find his offense still curled up on the seat he sat in on the ride from the airport. La Salle's Donnie Carr added Mack to his list of victims, getting tremendous help off screens from teammates and muzzling Mack into a career-worst 1-for-13 night from the floor and a season-low six points.

Without Mack, and Wesson keeping Ketner (5-for-21) in a funk for 30 minutes, UMass was left with rising star Chris Kirkland (15 points, 16 rebounds) for answers. There weren't enough.

The victory was La Salle's 10th at home against just two losses (the win over St. Joe's was at the First Union Spectrum). The other side is a 1-12 record away from their friendly confines. Looking for encouraging news? The Atlantic 10 Tournament opens March 3 at La Salle's former home floor, the Spectrum.

"Last time I checked, the A-10 was in Philly, so as long as they don't move it, I think we can do well," said coach Speedy Morris, whose team climbed to 11-14, 7-8 in the A-10. "The Duquesne loss [Saturday on the road] was tough, but I knew we'd play well tonight. We play well every game here, and I knew the kids were jacked for this one, before the crowd and with TV."

The Explorers led, 57-51, with 1:45 showing but, as they have done so many times this year, refused to take necessary care of the ball, as if unaware they were in another close game. There were scary, senseless, alley-oop attempts for no reason. There were poor passes when they needed good ones. There were missed free throws in the final minute.

There also was a steady rebounding effort (Victor Thomas, 14) and as good a defensive performance at the opposite end as La Salle fans have seen all season. Carr also saved 11 of his 14 points for a stretch in the second half when La Salle took control of the game heading into crunch time.

"Donnie was terrific again," Morris said. "If he's not a first-team all-Atlantic 10 player, it's an injustice. He can't do any more to help a team win games."

HILADELPHIA - Slumped against the Tom Gola Arena bleachers after the game, University of Massachusetts men's basketball coach James Bruiser Flint tried to explain how his team could shoot only 31.4 percent against the worst defensive unit in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

La Salle's K'Zell Wesson shoots over Lari Ketner.

"We had plenty of shots," Flint said after the 63-60 UMass loss to LaSalle, which assured the Minutemen the first losing regualr season since 1988-89, John Calipari's rookie year. "Their guys don't really defend that well, and we got all the shots we wanted, but they just didn't fall."

Flint felt the game typified the season for UMass (12-15, 8-7 A-10), which closes the season at home against Temple Sunday. The big shots and key free throws didn't fall. Loose balls that were briefly in Minutemen hands either slipped out of bounds or into LaSalle hands.

The biggest play came when LaSalle's Jullian Blanks missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 34 seconds left and the Explorers leading 58-57. But LaSalle center K'Zell Wesson (22 points, 10 rebounds) tipped the miss for a 60-57 lead.

Monty Mack, held to six points on 1-for-13 shooting, wasn't even close on a desperate game-tying 3-point attempt at the final horn. Neither Mack nor LaSalle guard Donnie Carr, who guarded each other, scored a basket in the first half - but Carr shot 5 for 7 in the second halfand finished with 14 points.

To even qualify for the NIT, which requires a minimum .500 record, UMass must win its next four games and at least get to the A-10 finals.

LaSalle (11-14, 7-8) beat UMass for the first time since 1971 with Wesson, Carr, and forwards Victor Thomas (14 points, career-high 13 rebounds) and Rasual Butler (12 points) scoring 62 of the 63 points. A bright spot for UMass, as usual, was junior forward Chris Kirkland, who scored 15 points and set a career rebounding high for the third straight game with 16.

"I think we weren't concentrating enough," said Kirkland, who scored 12 points in the second half. They're a pretty good shooting team, and they got confident once they got in their rhythm."

UMass shot 22 for 70, including 8 for 23 in the first half, when the Minutemen were outscored 15-3 in one 10:12 stretch. LaSalle led 29-23 at halftime and 45-37 with 13 minutes left, but Mack's only basket of the game tied it 50-50 with 6:20 to go.

Mike Babul and Charlton Clarke scored 11 points each for UMass.

"I'm frustrated, because this was a must win for us," said Clarke, whose 3-point shot cut LaSalle's lead to 62-60 with 9 seconds left. "We had plenty of shots and chances to steal the ball, but it just didn't stay in our hands." After Clarke's 3-pointer, Carr made one of two free throws with 6.2 seconds left before Mack missed his hurried shot at the buzzer.

Lari Ketner, who nearly attended LaSalle and was making only visit to the Explorers newly reopened campus arena, had 10 points, 11 rebounds and for blocks. But Ketner was 5 for 21 from the floor, delighting most of the 3,794 fans that made up LaSalle's biggest home crowd of the season.

LaSalle shot 39 percent, and every starter except Wesson played all 40 minutes. The four double-figure scorers took all but three of the Explorers' 59 shots, and even when Carr wasn't shooting, he played stellar defense on Mack - especially in the first half, when the two star guards each shot 0 for 7.

"I thought Monty had some great looks in the second half, but he just didn't make them," Flint said. Carr is second and Mack third in the Atlantic 10 Conference scoring.

HILADELPHIA - Missed shots from shorts distances spelled doom for the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team which fell to La Salle for the first time since the Explorers joined the Atlantic 10, 63-60, Tuesday night at Tom Gola Arena.

La Salle's Victor Thomas gets jiggy over Mike Babul.

Senior Lari Ketner and juniors Mike Babul and Chris Kirkland had an enormous number of shots bang off iron and the glass from closer than 10 feet as the trio shot a combined 15-for-47, while Ketner struggled the most going just 5-of-21. Making matters worse, leading scorer Monty Mack didn't have a field goal until 6:19 remaining in the game and he finished with just six points.

"It was very frustrating," Kirkland said. "We worked hard in practice and then we come in and miss layups. We have to make those. If we made some layups early in the first half it would have been a different game."

"We had some many chances inside close and we just couldn't put them in," UMass coach Bruiser Flint said. "Of course it's frustrating."

After trailing for most of the second half, UMass used a 6-0 run to tie the game at 50, but the Explorers answered with a 7-1 run that put them ahead 57-51 with 1:46 left. Mack made two free throws and Victor Thomas made one-of-two to make it 58-53. Ketner tipped in his own miss to bring the game within one possesion at 58-55.

After Thomas took the inbound pass, Winston Smith stole the ball from him and quickly called timeout with 43 seconds left. Out of the timeout Rafael Cruz hit a baseline layup to make it 58-57. Cruz then fouled Explorer freshman Julian Blanks, who missed the front end of a one-and-one but K'Zell Wesson tipped it back in to put the home team back ahead by three at 60-57 with 31 seconds left.

"That typifies the whole season right there," Flint said of Wesson's tip back. "If we came up with that rebound and made some foul shots, we would have won."

At the other end, Ketner missed a shot in close and the rebound bounced out of bounds off Kirkland. Kirkland fouled Rasual Butler, who made both free throws. The Minutemen hurried the ball down court and Clarke hit a three from the right corner with 8.4 seconds left to knife the score to 62-60. Mack quickly fouled Donnie Carr, who made his first free throw but missed the second with 6.2 seconds left.

Cruz pushed the ball up to Mack who missed a fall-away 3-pointer at the buzzer as the home crowd rushed the court in celebration.

"It was very frustrating," Clarke said. "We had a lot of opportunities to win the game, but we just didn't come up with the big rebound or hit the big shot when we needed it. We missed a lot of layups. We got to the basket but guys just missed their layups. We just rushed our shots."

Wesson led the Explorers with 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Thomas added 14 points and 13 boards. After not scoring in the first half, Carr poured in 14 in the second. Chris Kirkland broke his career high in rebounds for the third straight game grabbing 16, while leading the Minutemen with 15 points, while Babul and Clarke each added 11 and Ketner had 10 to go with 11 rebounds.

Both teams' leading scorers canceled each other out defensively as neither Mack nor Carr had a field goal in the opening 20 minutes. Carr was scoreless while Mack made two free throws before the break. After leading early, the Minuteman offense ran dry. They only scored six points in the final 11 minutes shooting an ugly 24 percent for the half. Thomas buried a jumper at the buzzer to put the home team ahead 29-23 at intermission.

The loss drops UMass to 12-15 and 8-7 in the Atlantic 10 and greatly jeopardizes the Minutemen's spot as the third seed in the A-10 East as St. Bonaventure is 7-7 and holds the tie-breaker over the Minutemen if the teams should finish tied.

The Bonnies play at Rhode Island tonight and host St. Joseph's on Saturday. UMass will close out its regular season on Sunday against first place Temple.

HILADELPHIA - In another season Tuesday night's loss against La Salle would have been a shocker for the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team.

But this one was all too typical for the Minutemen in a season that just got away from them.

The following is a look at five other games that sank the Minutemen:

1. Dec. 5, Marshall 88, UMass 66 - This beating at the hands of the Thundering Herd was an omen for what was to come this season. Coming off a discouraging loss to the College of Charleston 77-75, four days before the Minutemen looked for relief in Huntington, W.Va. and instead walked into an ambush. Marshall led 34-21 at the half and turned it into a rout in the second half.

2. Dec. 29, Davidson 75, UMass 66 (OT) - Maybe the Minutemen's worst night of the season as they let a 42-27 halftime lead disappear as the Wildcats forced overtime at 64-64. UMass didn't even show up for the extra session and was outscored 11-2 without hitting field goal. The smaller Davidson team outrebounded UMass 45-38. The Minutemen were miserable from the line, missing 16 of 33 free throws including many down the stretch.

This marked another step toward the point of no return for forward Ajmal Basit, who asked to be taken out of the starting lineup in favor of Chris Kirkland. He would later be dismissed from the team. This loss dropped UMass to 3-6.

3. Jan. 5, Iona 77, UMass 58 - The Minutemen were just plain bad. Lari Ketner fouled out with just four points and three rebounds in 18 minutes and spent late minutes of the game crying on the bench.

The Gaels killed UMass' vaunted frontline inside to the tune of a 65-27 in the paint. Iona dominated on the glass as well 46-32. Monty Mack's 16 points made him the only Minuteman in double figures.

4. Jan. 9, St. Bonaventure 53, UMass 50 - The Minutemen blew a 10-point lead midway through the first half as the Bonnies embarrassed UMass by outscoring it 23-10 in the final 10 minutes of the half.

Jonathan DePina's late turnovers helped drive the nail into the Minuteman coffin, while Ketner was nearly invisible again with just three points.

The defeat dropped UMass to 5-8 on the season.

5. Jan. 26, Fordham 66, UMass 60 - Prior to this game, Fordham had never won a road game in the Atlantic 10. Never.

With the game tied at 57-57, Fordham got a tip back with 40 seconds left to retake the lead, but instead of UMass getting the ball back with a chance to tie, Flint was hit with a technical foul for being out of the coaches box. The call effectively finished the Minutemen.

The Rams dominated in every area including inside despite being significantly smaller than UMass.

MASSACHUSETTS (60)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Kirkland        38  6-16   3-7  9-16  2  2   15
Babul           36  4-10   3-3   4-8  1  3   11
Ketner          30  5-21   0-0  2-11  1  3   10
Clarke          35   3-6   3-5   2-2  0  0   11
M Mack          39  1-13   4-4   0-2  1  3    6
Cruz             6   1-1   0-0   0-0  1  2    2
Smith            5   0-0   0-0   0-1  0  1    0
Blizzard         1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Rhymer          10   2-3   1-1   3-6  0  2    5
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 22-70 14-20 20-46  6 16   60
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.314, FT-.700. 3-Point Goals:
2-6, .333 (Clarke 2-2, M Mack 0-4). Team
rebounds: 2. Blocked shots: 6 (Ketner 4,
Blizzard, Rhymer). Turnovers: 12 (Ketner 4,
Rhymer 2, Babul, Clarke, Cruz, Kirkland, M Mack).
Steals: 8 (Kirkland 2, M Mack 2, Babul, Clarke,
Cruz, Smith).

LA SALLE (63)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Thomas          40  5-12   2-5  5-13  3  3   14
Butler          40  5-11   2-2   0-2  0  3   12
Wesson          31  8-19   6-6  3-10  0  3   22
Blanks          40   0-1   0-1   0-6  4  1    0
Carr            40  5-14   1-2   1-4  4  3   14
J Jordan         1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Bragg            8   0-2   1-2   2-3  0  4    1
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 23-59 12-18 11-38 11 17   63
_______________________________________________

Percentages: FG-.390, FT-.667. 3-Point Goals:
5-12, .417 (Thomas 2-4, Butler 0-1, Blanks 0-1,
Carr 3-6). Team rebounds: 6. Blocked shots: 3
(Wesson, Carr, Bragg). Turnovers: 13 (Carr 6,
Wesson 3, Butler 2, Blanks, Bragg). Steals: 5
(Thomas 3, Blanks 2).
__________________________________
Massachusetts      23   37  -   60
La Salle           29   34  -   63
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 3,794. Officials: Ed
Corbett, Mike Sanzere, Ted Valentine.